Islanders Network Erasmus Project

Project Title

Islanders Network

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Islanders Network -I-network” – is a 24 months ERASMUS YOUTH project is designed to support the fight against unemployment among young people in islands and, at the same time, influence their decision as to the career to be followed, by enriching their understanding of the practical sides of entrepreneurship and self-employment, through engaging them in so-called Job Shadowing which in many countries have proven to constitute quite effective educational processes.

The project aims to develop new and dynamic tools for young people who live in EU islands, where tourism sector competitiveness is of imminent importance. It focuses on the development of core employability skills and competences, focusing among others on entrepreneurship skills, of young people aged 16 to 30 years old. In parallel, the project proposes a job shadowing programme which will allow them to gain insight and experience via their interaction with key tourism stakeholders.

In order to equip the young people in these islands with competences that will make them more employable we will be providing them with skills related to the tourism sector and the new trends in the tourism field set in the Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills in tourism (EC: Jan 2017). This is an important sector for all five regions of islands since it provides a big share of the national GDP and thus it might be easier to find employment in this area or utilise the skills obtained to further their studies. Through this project , the young people will also receive entrepreneurial skills with the ultimate aim of making this project self-sustainable.

Indicatively the challenges the i-network project is addressing are the following:

– Key skill gaps identified in the traditional core skills such as interpersonal skills, communication, multicultural knowledge;
– New skills are needed for newly developed occupations (e.g. destination management, sustainable tourism, accessible tourism, green tourism) and for delivering innovative and customised services to a wider range of target groups, including seniors, or travelers with special needs;
– The digitalisation in the tourism sector requires new and specific knowledge not only from employees, but also from tourism entrepreneurs;
– Limited practical experience of graduates in the tourism field who are not usually work – ready to meet the needs of the firms in the sector;

The project wishes to add to the EU’s actions to overcome the mismatch between offer and supply, by identifying skills gaps, particularly arising from digitalisation, new trends in tourism and challenges linked to an increasingly international population. For this reason the project will roll out methodology and conduct a wide survey targeting both young people, who are looking to improve their employability skills and competences in an effort to increase their employment possibilities and key tourism stakeholders in each country (IO1) (i.e tourism industry and associations, national and local authorities involved in tourism sector.

In addition, the project aims to support the dissemination of information of young people in the relevant sector and raise awareness about EU programmes and tools through the creation of a dedicated Help Desk, which will also accommodate among other the e-learning component of the project (IO2). This could potentially increase awareness of EU funding opportunities for investing in people in the tourism sector and provide guidance on how to make better use of such funds. Finally, the project aims to enhance the image of tourism careers, through providing a training curriculum and job shadowing programme (IO3) for establishing a more focused training culture before and after recruitment, including a new form of apprenticeship (shadowing) or business preparation.

This project will also include three transnational project meetings that will contribute to the preparation, implementation and evaluation phase of the project. Furthermore, one Joint Staff Training Event for the partners staff providing them all the information about the usage of Help Desk. All the information gathered through this project and the promotion of the project itself will then be uploaded on the I-network Help Desk. Multiplier events are foreseen in Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Italy and Spain.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 105802 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASSOCIACAO JUVENIL DA ILHA TERCEIRA & Country: PT

Project Partners

• PRISM – PROMOZIONE INTERNAZIONALE SICILIA – MONDO
• ENOROS CONSULTING LIMITED
• Asociación Mojo de Caña
• Mittetulundusühing Osilia